China or Home
go_manly
March 07, 2010 at 06:26 AM posted in General DiscussionTo all those who have been living in China for more than a couple of years, where would you prefer to be - in China or back home? (where in China are you, & where is home?). And if you would prefer to be back home, what's keeping you in China? How many of you plan to live out the rest of your days in China?
xiao_liang
April 13, 2010 at 08:39 AM
Wow, what a life. Sounds like a very enriching experience! I appreciate the expansion, thank you :)
modernnomad
April 13, 2010 at 07:29 AM
Thanks Xiao Liang!
Yeah..London is amazing, but, i agree, after nearly 3 years of living and working in London, I decided to relocate somewhere else
I grew up in the Philippines, relocated to New Zealand for university and work, did my overseas experience in the UK, moved to Qatar (Middle East) for better opportunity . Now I am on a career break in Korea. Since mid 2006 , I have been travelling extensively all over the world..next move.. China.. (most likely.. not sure if I should relocate in 2010 or 2011 tho..)
Hope this anwers your question
xiao_liang
April 12, 2010 at 03:26 PM
Stop being mean to people bodawei :)
Yes, I'm UK based modernnomad. I think London is one of those cities you should live in at least once - really great place to live, but it can wear you down after a while. I grew up there... hehe.
So what five countries - korea, new zealand, england... I notice your profile says you speak tagalog, so philippines too? Did you move with your parents' work as a child?
modernnomad
April 12, 2010 at 11:56 AM
Although my parents ensured that I am aware of my own culture, I'm pretty sure that I will still experience some sort of 'culture shock' if i did relocate to China...
modernnomad
April 12, 2010 at 11:54 AM
No worries Bodawei. I've only been to China once and have only stayed in Shanghai for less than a week so it's really hard for me to gauge various websites' accessiblity in China.
bodawei
April 12, 2010 at 10:04 AM
Hi modernnomad
Welcome to ChinesePod! I am sorry I sounded a bit abrupt in my previous post. Fortunately, not everyone here is as abrupt as me. :)
Well, if you are Chinese, then you could well be suited to the Mainland, :) Although, you probably realise that Chinese people born and/or raised in other countries do often find it just as challenging as Anglo-foreigners.
'Maybe there is some way you can access Google'
You point your cursor and click, the same as you do wherever you live now. There is no special way; no deviousness is required. No special knowledge, No special arrangements. Google works here like it works in the West.
I fear that you may have got the idea from somewhere that Google is not available. I have been trying to tell you in the last couple of posts that these problems you anticipate do not exist. There is a Chinese Government firewall, but that has nothing to do with Google (as was made perfectly clear when we started using Hong Kong Google servers.)
modernnomad
April 12, 2010 at 09:51 AM
Bodawei... i am ethnically Chinese so that might explain it.. ha ha ha... I'm pretty new to Chinese pod ... i'm not a computer whiz so yeah maybe there is some way you can access Facebook and Google in China without the need for some form of 'proxy'...looks like you have settled quite well in China then!
bodawei
April 10, 2010 at 04:16 PM
Dear modernnomad, I can see that your mind functions just as well in forward gear as it does in reverse. You seem to be perfectly suited to the contradictions one faces in Mainland China. Or maybe you are having trouble reading the small font on these threads? :)
modernnomad
April 10, 2010 at 09:29 AM
my Chinese friend told me that he can access Facebook thru the illegal proxy....
bodawei
April 10, 2010 at 07:10 AM
No. Without a proxy. I don't know what you mean by 'safe' in this context.
modernnomad
April 10, 2010 at 06:52 AM
reply to bodawei: thru an illegal proxy right? but is it safe?
bodawei
April 10, 2010 at 03:09 AM
What do you mean 'what do you mean'? :)
You say 'How can I live without Facebook and Google?' Is it your understanding that Google does not work in China? That would be news to us who live in China and use Google every day.
modernnomad
April 10, 2010 at 02:56 AM
Reply to Xiao_Liang: UK? I lived and worked in London for nearly 3 years....
modernnomad
April 10, 2010 at 02:55 AM
Reply to Xiao_Liang: I am really sorry if my answer to your question was very brief. I agree that it is better that you stay with your children. Where are you currently based?
modernnomad
April 10, 2010 at 02:51 AM
Reply to Bodawei- what do you mean? 'cause Google doesn't want to lose face to Baidu?
xiao_liang
April 09, 2010 at 09:16 AM
You are terrible at telling stories! :p
I had children quite young, and then went through divorce, but wouldn't move away from my kids until they were a lot older. I will have to save my living in another country until I am old :)
bodawei
April 08, 2010 at 04:00 PM
Hi janegochua
If you really think that Google no longer works in China I have to say that the marketing and money men at Google will be over the moon. Mission accomplished? :-)
bodawei
April 08, 2010 at 03:56 PM
Because at the age of 14 the average person knows more than they will know than at any other time of their lives. So why travel? :-)
modernnomad
April 08, 2010 at 02:46 PM
Reply to xiao_liang:
Reason for being able to live in so many countries in 5 different parts of the world. (1) Opportunities (2) Interest.
Re: Moving to China
How can I live without Facebook and Google?
bodawei
April 07, 2010 at 11:15 PM
Having children is a very poor excuse for not living in a foreign country! Take them when they are too young to complain, ;-) Actually travelling with very young children is a great experience and if anything makes connecting with the local community even easier. The only time we found it difficult to travel was with children about 14 - 16..
xiao_liang
April 07, 2010 at 07:22 PM
Wow, I'm so jealous :-) What's the story behind the 6 countries?
As for China, sounds like you should go for it!
modernnomad
April 07, 2010 at 03:43 PM
true.. no ties (ie: children) nor student loan or mortgage to pay....
modernnomad
April 07, 2010 at 03:42 PM
thanks pretzellogic and xiao liang...
china has always fascinated me since i was kid.
i have lived in 6 countries all over the world so living in a foreign country is not that daunting to me.. actually i find it really exciting!
xiao_liang
April 07, 2010 at 03:28 PM
I would say if you have the opportunity to live in a foreign country, and no ties to keep you in your current one (e.g. children!), I would recommend you at least give it a go for 6 months to a year. What's to lose?
pretzellogic
April 07, 2010 at 02:16 PM
This is just my personal observation about my life, but it is better to go to China and KNOW it to be a horrible experience than it is to WONDER what going to China might have been.
bababardwan
March 08, 2010 at 02:30 PM
This is becoming a great thread.Thanks for starting it go manly.I love these kinds of insights.Thanks to all above who have posted and shared stuff ,especially your generosity in sharing the personal stuff and feelings.[Sorry I don't qualify by a long shot so nothing to share myself on this one].Jiayou. :)
bodawei
March 08, 2010 at 02:12 PM
'Living out the rest of your days' probably has more meaning for me than posters above because i am closer to the end. :-( I figure I have about 40 - 50 years left. :-)
I had lunch today at a little 贵州人 restaurant and the meal was simple but delicious. My next-door province 贵州 is sometimes referred to as the poorest in China (so Tal, I must live in the unfashionable end of China.) But it made me think: how does the poorest province in China produce some of the most amazing food? This is just one of the cultural mysteries that I love in China.
But I am mainly driven by the fun/challenge of learning Chinese. Sorry, I haven't yet answered your question directly. I have no plans to move back to my home country soon but life is uncertain.
bodawei
March 08, 2010 at 02:15 PM
I should have mentioned that I don't quite qualify for the 'living in China more than a couple of years'; I have been here for about 18 months in two separate stints separated by two years.
Tal
March 08, 2010 at 04:15 AM
I find it difficult to give a simple answer to Bob's questions, because sometimes I really do miss my own country and culture and the convenience of being able to get stuff you want and eat certain foods you like. On the whole I do enjoy living in China though, and appreciate the lessons it has to teach. I love learning Chinese and I enjoy my work, teaching English to young Chinese medical students.
It's just looking ahead way too far to be thinking of where I'm likely to 'live out my days'! (I like to think I've got a reasonable chance of living forever anyway!) But I don't currently have any plans to leave China in the foreseeable future, which tends to baffle my students, but then I am in the unfashionable end of Guangdong.
John
March 08, 2010 at 02:48 AM
I prefer to be in China for now. It really is my second home, and I'm comfortable here. (Home was originally Tampa, Florida, and is also Shanghai now.)
I'm not sure yet about where I plan to "live out the rest of my days." I think I have a few more years to figure that out...
Tal
March 07, 2010 at 01:38 PM
Chinese people are often fascinated by the question of why foreigners come to live in China. On the surface, it seems a very unnatural thing to do, to choose to live in a foreign land, to separate oneself from friends, family, culture.
I've taken to reminding them
树挪死，人挪活。Shù nuó sǐ, rén nuó huó.
A tree dies if moved, a man lives by moving.
My feeling of life in China is sometimes of existing in a parallel universe, another version of reality.
The other day a little girl I didn't know came up to me in the garden of the estate where I live and said: 《你好像外国人。》I said I was but really I wanted to say: No, Earth is my home planet. 怎么说？不会吧，我们地球是我自己行星家咯。
xiao_liang
March 07, 2010 at 11:26 AM
opportunity to whack out the culture shock diagrams!
http://home.snu.edu/~hculbert/shock.gif
This one is little, and is for foreigners coming to the UK, but reverse it (and get a magnifying glass) and it's fine:
http://grccip.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/diagram_cultureshock1.jpg
I find this stuff fascinating, though. Culture shock is a marked transition in feeling.
And just to be annoying, I'm stuck in England, so won't be able to experience it. Le sigh!
bababardwan
March 08, 2010 at 02:14 AM
...yeah,the second half of the second graph is often referred to as reverse culture shock
hamshank
March 07, 2010 at 08:54 AM
Well I technically don't qualify for this question as I am both in Taiwan and have only been here since early December so everything is still pretty new and exciting.
Bet you can't guess where I am from!;)
My tuppence anyway is that if I was able to get to a level with my Chinese where I was able to have normal conversations with people, watch TV, buy things without the need for lingual backup etc, then I couldn't see why I would be rushing back home.
modernnomad
April 07, 2010 at 02:07 PMI am tempted to relocate to China to improve my Mandarin but not sure whether I should...